Phosphorus utilization in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) fed practical diets and its consequences on effluent phosphorus levels
Abstract
Excessive dietary phosphorous (P) concentrations in effluents from aquaculture present a major environmental problem. We therefore studied the effect of dietary P and vitamin D3 on P utilization by rainbow trout-fed practical diets and on P concentrations in the soluble, particulate and settleable components of the effluent from fish tanks. Rainbow trout (average weight: 78 g, initial biomass: 13 kg in 0.7 m3 tanks) were fed for 11 weeks, practical diets that varied in total P, available P, and vitamin D3 concentrations. Soluble, particulate (10–200 μm) and settleable (>200 μm) P in the effluent were sampled every 0.5–6 h for 1–3 days in the third and eleventh weeks of the experiment. Trout in all diets more than doubled their weight after 11 weeks. Increasing the concentrations of available dietary P from 0.24% to 0.88% modestly enhanced growth rate. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) and biomass gain per gram P consumed decreased as dietary P concentrations increased. Carcass P, daily P gain, and plasma P concentrations were lower in fish fed with low P diets. Soluble P concentrations in the effluent peaked immediately after and again 4–6 h after feeding, and is a linear function of available dietary P. No soluble P would be produced during consumption of diets containing less than 0.22±0.02% available P. Above this dietary concentration, soluble P would be excreted at 6.9±0.4 mg/day/kg for each 0.1% increase in available dietary P. Particulate P concentrations in the effluent were independent of dietary P concentrations. Settleable, presumably fecal, P concentrations tended to increase with dietary P concentrations. In trout fed with low P (0.24% available P, 0.6% total P) diets, 60% of total dietary P were retained by the fish and the remaining 40% were excreted in the effluent as settleable P (20–30%) and particulate or soluble P (10–20%). In trout fed with high P (0.59–0.88% available P; 0.9–1.2% total P) diets, 30–55% of total dietary P was retained by fish, and the remaining 15–25% appeared in the effluent as settleable P, 20–55% as soluble P, and 5–10% as particulate P. Vitamin D3 did not affect fish growth nor effluent P levels. Physicochemical management of aquaculture effluents should consider the effect of diets on partitioning of effluent P, the peaks of soluble P concentration following feeding, and the contributions of particulate P to total P in the effluent. Increasing our understanding of how dietary P is utilized and is subsequently partitioned in the effluent can contribute significantly towards alleviating this important environmental and industry problem.
Citation
Coloso, R. M., King, K., Fletcher, J. W., Hendrix, M. A., Subramanyam, M., Weis, P., & Ferraris, R. P. (2003). Phosphorus utilization in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) fed practical diets and its consequences on effluent phosphorus levels.Publisher
ElsevierSubject
Acknowledgment/Sponsorship
This project was supported by USDA grant no. 01-35102-09881, USDA grant no. 94-38500-0044 (Northeastern Regional Aquaculture Center) and NSF-IBN9985808. We thank J. Choi, S. Basantes, E. Gagiu, T. Proctor, W. Jodun and P. Farrell for expert technical assistance, as well as F. Jarder of the Centralized Analytical Laboratory of the Aquaculture Department, Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center for proximate analyses of the diets. We are indebted to Drs. N. McDaniel and S. Sugiura for critically reviewing the manuscript.
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